1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to production of oil, gas, water, etc., and more particularly to systems and methods for communicating between remote tools and control equipment used in well operations using separate and distinct communication protocols on a single communication line.
2. Related Art
The efficient operation of wells to produce oil and gas involves the collection and processing of large amounts of data and the adjustment of production equipment installed in the wells. Many different tools may be used downhole within the wells to collect information and regulate well operations. For instance, gauges may be used to sense well conditions and to provide corresponding data to control equipment at the surface of the well. This information may be processed and used to control other downhole tools.
Communications between the surface equipment and the different downhole tools may require different protocols. In the case of gauges and other data collection tools, the communications may consist of one-way, high-data-rate transmissions from the downhole tools to the surface equipment. In the case of tools that regulate the operation of the well, it may be necessary to support two-way communications that may occur infrequently and involve minimal amounts of data, but require a high degree of reliability.
Conventionally, a well system will implement only one of these types of communications. If two different communication protocols are implemented, they would require two different cables on which the different protocols are implemented. The implementation of different communication protocols using separate cables is costly and often impractical. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a means to implement multiple, distinct, possibly even incompatible communication protocols without the cost of separate communication lines and corresponding interfaces.